Success Story

SCALING A SMALL BUSINESS with The Verb Factory.

The SituationSmall communications and PR company Verb Factory got the majority of its revenue from one client. With the realization that the company would basically go under if that client left, owner and Founder Rich Berman decided it was time to expand the company’s client base to increase long-term stability.

"We’ve worked with The Opportunity Lab several times as our business has grown, and every experience is a positive one for us as we address specific issues that we face and then develop a plan to improve our business. OppLab played a major role in our ability to scale as we doubled our revenues over a two-year period. It all comes down to working with us to implement systems to create operational excellence and improve client service.”Richard BermanCEO, VerbFactory

The SolutionThe OppLab team took Rich Berman through the second stage of OppLab's process, to assess, diagnose, and discover obstacles to growth. Immediately we saw the need to help Rich think about working in and on his business in a whole new way. We selected The E-Myth, by Michael E. Gerber, to guide and inform the process. This book helps entrepreneurs separate the vital roles in a business: the “technician” (who does the work), the “manager” (who manages the Technicians, and the “Entreprenuer” (who innovates).To prepare for the OppLab 2-Day Intensive, we helped Rich select members of his Opportunity Team, that would provide candid feedback on his company, his management practices, and immediate issues that needed to be addressed.During the 2-Day OppLab Intensive, some major organizational issues came to light that had been standing in the way of scaling the company’s core services. First, most of the account management was being performed by Rich himself, as well as a large part of the businesses core services. And rather than his employees (who were actually contractors) being included in the process, he delegated specific tasks to them so they couldn’t have stepped in to fully assist a client if Rich were away.During the Intensive, his contracted “employees” expressed a desire to take on more responsibility and the need for more information and communication from Rich. This hadn’t been voiced before because 1. Rich had never asked, and 2. They were contractors and didn’t think it appropriate to be more involved in the actual business.Another major issue we uncovered was that the company had no central file storage or communications infrastructure. As a mostly virtual company, each employee kept their files on their personal computers, not on a cloud server that would accessible to everyone. Employees voiced that they had been frustrated by this. They also voiced that they would benefit from having some sort of central meeting place on a regular basis.The consequence of this was that the business could only scale as large as Rich’s bandwidth, which was already maxed. So, before Verb Factory could focus on attracting new clients, it first needed to focus on laying the foundation for growth.ResultsRich understood the necessity to start shifting his role from the “Technician” to the “Manager.” It became very clear that he needed to have a fully-formed plan to execute. During the Intensive, the group started creating an action plan that included the following:

Rich followed up on our recommendation that he spend time each week cataloging his unique client management and communications processes. This would allow him to train existing and future employees in his method of working so the Verb Factory brand could grow beyond his brain.

They began looking for a space to convene bi-monthly.

Using time-tracking software to help with proposals and billing.

Using internal communications application to increase employee interaction and productivity.

Creating a new business incentive program for employees.

Identifying and fully utilizing employees’ strengths.

We also helped define key aspects of the business that informed this plan, including: